slumbering pure
by george's firework
Summary: She's the lost daughter of Percy and Audrey, the one cursed by a jealous witch, so what is she doing wandering in the forest by the home of her eldest cousin? And why is it that Scorpius has dreamed of her?
1. Chapter 1

_You don't want me, no, you don't need me_

Scorpius wandered around the back garden of Shell Cottage, smiling and nodding the various people who called out to him, but continuing on his quest to the food table nevertheless. It was Dominique's seventeenth birthday so the entire Weasley-Potter clan had gathered to celebrate, and Dominique had demanded that her Slytherin friends be invited too. So Scorpius Malfoy, Caligo Zabini, and Oliver Corner had all come along – it said a little bit about Dom that all of her friends were boys. Scorpius smirked to himself as he wandered along the beach, thinking about his little adventures with Dom…

"Hey, Scorp, come with me for a second?" Albus suddenly appeared at his side, looking rather guilty, and Scorpius raised an eyebrow as his best friend gestured beyond the garden, down the cliffs, to the sea.

"What, so you can seduce me under the noise of the ocean's waves?" He teased and Albus turned a delicate shade of green and shook his head fervently.

"No, there's someone I'd like you to meet. And would you stop with the gay jokes? It was a dare!" Albus scowled at him and turned to hurry out of the garden, after checking that no one was watching. Scorpius chuckled lightly and strolled after his friend, following him down the worn path that lead to the beach. However, to Scorpius's surprise, he didn't stop at the edge of the waves – instead he kept going along the beach to a copse of trees they had occasionally played hide and seek in as younger children.

"Al, where are we going?" Scorpius grumbled, brushing aside several branches as he sped up to walk beside his friend. Albus just shook his head and Scorpius glared at him, and then his eyes widened as he heard a beautiful lilting voice, a voice that had been haunting his dreams for the past few years.

"_A la nanita, nana nanita, ella nanita, ella…" _There was sweet voice all around him, filling the air with the beautiful melody of a Spanish lullaby. He was immediately moving faster, breaking through branches and bushes as the music grew. He didn't notice Albus grin and melt away through the trees, heading back through the woods to the party.

"Oh!" The music stopped suddenly as Scorpius broke through the final barrier and fell into a small clearing, startling the slender girl who was standing within it.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to startle you!" Scorpius cried, seeing that she looked ready to flee. "Please, wait. Do I know you? You look so, so familiar." He examined her closely, noting every detail from her beautiful curls of brown hair to her massive blue eyes, from her clear porcelain skin to her rose-coloured lips. She was just the epitome of pure beauty. Perhaps he had seen her in some heavenly dream – he'd heard her voice in a dream after all.

"I don't think so, but you seem familiar too," she said and he felt like dying and going to heaven when he heard her voice. Her singing voice was just… too stunning for words, but when she spoke it still sounded like a choir of songbirds.

"Do you go to Hogwarts?" Scorpius blurted out and then almost clapped his hands over his mouth – he would have, but he was a Malfoy and Malfoys did not do such acts of inelegance. Of course he had just made quite a large mistake, but if she was a muggle he could take her back to the party and have one of the adults cast a memory charm on her. Oh Merlin, the lectures that would ensue…

"No, no," her tinkling laugh of a reply interrupted his inner monologue and he sighed a little breath of relief – if she was a muggle she would have questioned the name of the school. "I go to Beauxbatons, but I come here for the summer holiday which is why I only have a slight accent." Her eyes seemed less frantic now and she lowered herself to a fallen tree which was lying across the clearing, never looking away from him. He, too, sat down, but on the ground a few metres away so he wouldn't scare her.

"You live around here? The only other wizarding family anywhere close to this place is Percy Weasley's family… You wouldn't be the lost daughter, would you?" Scorpius peered at her closely, registering the shock on her face.

"How did you know?" She asked sharply, her eyes wide.

"Well, everybody in the wizarding world knows about you; how when you were a baby, some witch who was jealous of your Mum placed some unknown enchantment on you which meant that if you ever touched a wand, you'd die – which is pretty bloody insane if you ask me, just because she was jealous. Everyone knows the story because your entire family is practically royalty – didn't you know? But nobody knows your name…" He eyed her curiously but she looked away, frowning at the ground. "You mentioned that you go to Beauxbatons… How can you go to a magical school if you can't touch a wand without fear of, well, dying?"

"I don't really _go _to Beauxbatons – during term time I stay with my aunt and a few tutors come out from the school to teach me theory and Potions. I love Potions." She smiled blissfully and turned her face up to the sunlight which had broken through the trees, closing her eyes as it danced across her pale skin. He was happy to see she had relaxed slightly and shuffled a bit closer.

"So what House are you in? How old are you? _Who _are you? What's it like, being able to use a wand and be free?" The questions seemed to come pouring out of her mouth before she could stop them and she blushed but gazed at him with an avid expression, willing him to answer her questions.

"I'm sixteen, and I'm in Slytherin," Scorpius said, drawing himself up proudly. "As for the thing about the wand… I don't know, it just feels natural. But surely you could ask your sister about that? Or your parents, or your aunt?" To his surprise, the girl's smile disappeared at that and she opened her eyes, wrapping her arms around her knees.

"It's a forbidden subject," she whispered, staring steadily at the ground. He didn't miss the slight wobble in her chin. "Daddy forbids any use of wands when I'm at home, and Aunt Gabrielle says she doesn't use hers but she spends a lot of time on the beach by the house and she never lets me come with her… You didn't answer all of my questions! What's your name?"

"I don't think that's fair – I don't know yours. How about we swap?" He teased and she looked upset again.

"I can't, I'm sorry," she said softly and stood up, backing towards the edge of the clearing. "It's getting late… I have to go." She turned and was about to leave the clearing, and possibly leave him forever, but he called after her, leaping to his feet and bounding over to stand before her. Gently but firmly he took her shoulders in his hands to stop her running.

"Wait! When will I see you again?" He asked desperately.

"Oh, never! Never!" She cried softly. "I shouldn't have talked to you in the first place – I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

"Never?" Scorpius repeated, only having absorbed that part of her soft protest.

"Well, maybe, someday…" His heart leapt and he cursed himself and this girl who could make him into such a fool on the same day as meeting her. Malfoys were not desperate, love struck fools! But he couldn't help himself… it was as if she'd given him some Amortentia.

"When, tomorrow?"

"Oh no, I go back to France tomorrow. This evening!"

"Where?" He relaxed his grip slightly and she pulled away from him, immediately disappearing into the trees. Her voice floated back to him through the trees.

"At the cottage… over the hill."


	2. Chapter 2

_Like I want you, oh, like I need you_

"Mistress, mistress!" It seemed like Orpheo's voice appeared before his body actually did because he spoke, and then appeared with a loud crack. "Mistress, I've spotted the girl! She's in a forest by Shell Cottage – with the young Malfoy boy!" He squeaked and she shot upright in the chair she was lounging in, sending her latest boy-toy away with a flick of her fingers.

"Where? When? She was with _whom _now? Are you_ sure_ it was her? I must know it was her, Orpheo, and you know you'll be in a lot of trouble if you get it wrong – like these idiots did earlier." She gestured to the unconscious goblins that surrounded them, the ones who had thought they had been so bright by looking in cradles for the girl for nearly sixteen years – rather than searching for a growing woman like they ought to have been doing.

"_The girl has disappeared? FIND HER." She roared and her servants all jumped and immediately started falling over each other in their quest to please their mistress. "Search everywhere that could possibly be associated with that family – do not rest until that girl is found!" They scattered like disturbed flies._

She'd been waiting sixteen long years to get her revenge – revenge for Percy leaving her, for Audrey stealing him away from her, for them not even bothering to invite her to their baby's first birthday despite promising to stay friends. She'd showed up anyway, of course, and she'd cast that spell that nobody would ever be able to undo but as she Apparated away, she heard the Fleur girl raise her wand and say the enchantment that would turn her curse from death to sleep and ruin her plans for revenge.

Her name was Sarah Orzechowski and she and Percy were involved in a whirlwind romance after the war; she comforting him for the loss of his brother and in turn he comforted her for the loss of her sister, and they took great consolation in each other's company – that was, until he found Audrey. There was something between them, some sort of "magical spark", and he dropped her without a second thought.

But now… Now that Orpheo had found the girl she would finally be able to make Percy pay for forgetting about her.

* * *

><p>"Mum! Dad! Where are you?" Lucy came sprinting around the corner of Shell Cottage, dragging Lorcan behind her with an extremely worried expression clear on her pretty face. The dark haired boy whose wrist she was latched onto was looking rather more dazed than usual, his brown eyes unfocused.<p>

"Lucy? Lorcan? What's wrong? What's going on?" Audrey immediately detached herself from the group of adults remaining in the garden, laughing over wine as the sun set. The group quietened down as Audrey guided Lucy and the still dazed Lorcan into their midst. Luna immediately examined her son with a thoughtful expression, as Rolf eyed him worriedly from his place beside his wife.

"Lorcan had a vision!" Lucy gasped out, and the adults exchanged worried looks. "It was about… It was about…"

"What was it about, love?" Percy prompted gently but urgently. Lucy seemed to be having an argument in her head as she pursed her lips and frowned before she eventually opened her mouth again.

"It was about Molly!" Lucy blurted and the women of the group all gasped as the men's eyes widened in such a simultaneous act that it was almost comic – but it wasn't because of the subject. Percy and Audrey's daughter was a topic that was expressly forbidden and had been ever since she disappeared all those years ago. Arthur had imposed the ban after a few months because every time Molly's name was mentioned, Audrey would burst into tears and Percy would storm out of the room. Aside from Percy and Audrey, nobody had any idea as to where she had disappeared to – they just trusted that she was safe.

"Well, tell us about it!" Ginny demanded after several long moments of silence. She received several reproachful looks for her outburst and then Luna gently nudged Lorcan with her elbow, bringing him out of his dazed state. When he gave her a rather frightened look, she raised her eyebrows and gently nudged him again.

"T-there were lots of unconscious goblins on the floor and a woman pacing and a house elf appeared and said he'd… said he'd found her and I knew he was talking about M-M-Molly, I don't know how I knew but I did. And then… then it all faded and I saw a little white house… Your house… and a pretty girl who looked like Mrs Audrey sitting outside with a blonde haired boy… and then, and then the pacing woman from earlier appeared and the pretty girl t-touched her wand and she c-c-collapsed." He finished his story and then chewed furiously on his lip – he'd never been very self-confident. Percy and Audrey looked at each other, their faces clearly showing their desperation.

"She'll have to go back," he said quietly to her and tears appeared in her eyes as she stared at him, the two isolating themselves from the rest of the group.

"It's too soon… She's only been with us for a week," Audrey whispered frantically, a tear threatening to fall from her large, beautiful eyes. "Percy, I can't lose her."

"We'll go with her… Protect her…" Percy promised and they turned back to the family who were waiting expectantly for their decision. "Bill, Fleur… Could Lucy stay with you for a couple of days? I know it's short notice but she gets on well with Louis and Victoire and she enjoys staying with you – even if she and Dominique have had their disagreements in the past." Percy was speaking as if his daughter wasn't present and she frowned up at him.

"Why can't I come?" She complained. "She's my sister!"

"I know, darling," Audrey said, not even having to bend down to reach her daughter's eye line. She wondered how she hadn't noticed how tall Lucy was getting. "But it's a dangerous situation, and we can't have you getting hurt. We'll have your sister home soon, for good, but for now you'll just have to stay put." Sighing, Lucy nodded. "Come on, I'll take you home to get some things and then bring you back here before your father and I take Molly to a safe place."

* * *

><p>Later that evening Scorpius wandered away from the garden at Shell Cottage – still filled with Weasley relatives – again and made his way over the hill to where Lucy and her family lived in a small, quaint white house. Nervously he checked around the house to see if anyone was in the garden – he'd noticed that Lucy's parents had disappeared from the part a while ago – but it seemed deserted. Steeling himself, he walked up the path to the front door and knocked.<p>

"Hello, Mr Malfoy." The unfamiliar voice came from behind him and he swung round to see a witch who looked to be about the same age as Albus's dad but he couldn't be sure. He'd seen her before, and hers was a face he connected to the story of the lost girl but he couldn't remember _why_. "I'm afraid that, since my original target evaded me, you'll have to come with me."

Everything went dark.


End file.
